Staying at a hotel near your ceremony

When planning your wedding, try to think about ways to make it easier on yourself!. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of weddings (My estimation is around 500) and have come to realise what works, what doesn’t work and how brides can alleviate stress before their wedding. If I were to give one single piece of advice, it would be to stay a motel close to where the ceremony is being held the night before.

Their is nothing more stressful for a bride (and their photographer) than the potential of being late to their ceremony. The best way to alleviate this is to choose a motel 5 to 10 minutes drive from the venue where you are getting married. On a number of occasions, I have photographed weddings where the bride needs to drive up to an hour to get to the ceremony. This is fraught with potential problems. Traffic, limo drivers getting lost, forgetting something back at the house are all reasons that could cause you to be late. If you are leaving for the ceremony on a Saturday morning or Friday afternoon, traffic is a real concern.

If you get ready at a motel, you could squash all these potential problems in one fell swoop. Having the ceremony just around the corner from where you are staying will help put  your mind at easy and will be one less thing for you to worry about. Another big advantage of getting ready at a motel, is that motel rooms are usually big and bright, which is great for wedding photography. They usually have big sliding doors which let in soft, diffused light, but also the right temperature of light, being white (as opposed to orange).

They usually have pull across curtains which allows for some stunning silhouettes and the room will usually be big enough to bridal party wedding photos and family photos with ease.  They will also have room service which will clean up the mess so you don’t have to when you get home. All these factors will make a huge difference to your wedding gallery and help to reduce stress on your big day.